The Chicago Cubs figured to enter this offseason aiming big. Despite poaching star manager Craig Counsell from the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago found themselves looking up at the Brew Crew yet again, slumping to an 83-79 finish and a fourth straight season without a playoff appearance. With Counsell finally getting a full offseason, a strong core of young talent and ostensibly plenty of money to spend, the sky seemed to be the limit.
At least, it did for a few days. It didn’t take long for Cubs president Jed Hoyer to pour cold water all over any dreams of a huge offseason on the North Side, more or less ruling out a run at any of the top free agents on the market. Once poised to be one of this winter’s biggest buyers, now it seems like Chicago has its sights set on sending talent away: Rather than making a run at Corbin Burnes or swinging a trade for Garrett Crochet, the most current rumors around the Cubs have them eying a trade of Cody Bellinger … just a week or so after the outfielder decided to opt in to another year of his contract.
It’s been a shocking vibe shift, to say the least. And while fans are rightly left wondering what the deal is, just imagine how Counsell is feeling — when he agreed to spurn Milwaukee for Chicago last winter, he can’t have imagined that he’d once again be in a position to have to do more with less.
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The whole reason Counsell jumped to the Cubs, drawing the ire of the entire state of Wisconsin in the process, was because he’d hit his ceiling with the smaller-market Brewers. Counsell had Milwaukee overachieving on a yearly basis, but come playoff time water would find its level and the Brewers would fall short against a team with several more zeroes in its budget. Ready to finally come out of a post-World Series rebuild, Chicago had money to burn and was looking for an All-Star manager to mold all the talent it was set to bring in.
Unfortunately, things haven’t exactly played out that way. It seems increasingly clear that Chicago is just fine keeping the bottom line tidy; Wrigley Field will be packed regardless, and the good will from that 2016 championship run figures to carry the Ricketts family for at least a few more years. Don’t dip into the luxury tax, keep the team reasonably competitive and see if a mid-80s-win team can get lucky down the stretch and make some noise in the playoffs.
Or, in other words … basically the exact same plan as Counsell would’ve had in Milwaukee, a front office that develops talent as well as just about anyone but needs to constantly be one step ahead as that talent inevitably signs a fat contract elsewhere. The skipper thought that the grass would be greener down I-94, but with another big-name outfielder halfway out the door, he’s likely begun to realize that the new boss really is the same as the old boss.
